March 30, 2014

The Paper Mache Tree Project: Progress Shots

The paper mache tree project was on hold for a while. My plans got messed around a bit when I put the husband onto learning about EMF's, as our meter box (including the smart meter) is located right outside the kids' bedroom. He started researching, didn't like what he was reading, bought an EMF reading device and decided that we are either moving the meter box, or moving them to a different room. Total tree & mural plan stuff up! We'll get a quote for the relocation of the meter box, and in all the discussion of possibly changing their room I completely lost motivation to keep working on the tree. But, I decided yesterday that there is still quite a bit of work I can do on it anyway, and it will still be able to be moved at this stage if needed.

So, we cracked out the flour and water and had a fun messy old time! This Mamma ain't really scared of a fun mess! And it was only flour and water, so it washes out of everything, it's non toxic, and easy to clean up. And some of my gluten free health nut friends would say this is a much better use for this gluggy grain! The kids were repeating "gloopy- glue, gloopy- glue", as they were working. Not much work was being done, just a lot of squishing and squelching around with the mixture! My working process for this is to wait until they get bored, then carry on with productive work when I've kicked them outside covered in glue.

I think I'll need one more paper macheing session and then that part of the project will be complete. I have renewed motivation to keep working on the tree, and motivation to work this room situation out soon. I would really love to keep the kids in their current room, it's such a great size, and we had a pretty chandelier light installed there too. It's coming along, yeah? :) I am so excited!

Update: This project is now finished! You can view the first post about this tree here, or view the finished tree in this blog post.

5 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I know you did this a while ago but just a question about the inside of the tree. Did you line the wire inside and if so what with? I am going to be tackling one a bit similar but need the inside lined to stop little fingers getting into the wire.

Hello, I'm wanting to try this in my classroom and I am wondering what mixture you used for the paper mache. Also, did you apply the mache on the inside of the tree? My last question is how did you cut the holes in the trunk?Thank you,Katy

Hello all, sorry for the late reply, these comments got lost and I just found them and published them, so sorry! The tree is formed from chicken wire, then paper mache'd on the inside and outside with a mix of flour and water until creamy consistencyis acheived to use for glue. The little holes were cut into the chicken wire, and I made cardboard edges which I stuck down with masking tape. The first layers of the tree were done with butcher paper and newspaper, and the last layer I used brown tissue paper. The tissue paper gets all scrunched and gives a nice bark effect. Any more questions please do ask! :)

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